The Billion-Dollar-Round Club
No company has capitalized on the AI revolution more dramatically than Nvidia. Its revenue, profitability, and cash reserves have skyrocketed since the introduction of ChatGPT over two years ago — and the many competitive generative AI services that have launched since. And its stock price soared.
The Goal of Corporate Investing
Nvidia has stated that the goal of its corporate investing is to expand the AI ecosystem by backing startups it considers to be “game changers and market makers.”
The Billion-Dollar-Round Club
- OpenAI: Nvidia backed the ChatGPT maker for the first time in October, reportedly writing a $100 million check toward a colossal $6.6 billion round that valued the company at $157 billion. The chipmaker’s investment was dwarfed by OpenAI’s other backers, notably Thrive, which according to the New York Times invested $1.3 billion.
- xAI: Nvidia participated in the $6 billion round of Elon Musk’s xAI. The deal revealed that not all of OpenAI’s investors followed its request to refrain from backing any of its direct competitors. After investing in the ChatGPT maker in October, Nvidia joined xAI’s cap table a few months later.
- Inflection: One of Nvidia’s first significant AI investments also had one of the most unusual outcomes. In June 2023, Nvidia was one of several lead investors in Inflection’s $1.3 billion round, a company founded by Mustafa Suleyman, who earlier founded DeepMind. Less than a year later, Microsoft hired Inflection AI’s founders, paying $620 million for a non-exclusive technology license, leaving the company with a significantly diminished workforce and a less defined future.
- Wayve: In May, Nvidia participated in a $1.05 billion round for the U.K.-based startup, which is developing a self-learning system for autonomous driving. The company is testing its vehicles in the U.K. and the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Many-Hundreds-of-Millions-of-Dollars Club
- Crusoe: A startup building data centers reportedly to be leased to Oracle, Microsoft, and OpenAI raised $686 million in late November, according to an SEC filing. The investment was led by Founders Fund, and the long list of other investors included Nvidia.
- Figure AI: In February 2024, AI robotics startup Figure raised a $675 million Series B from Nvidia, OpenAI Startup Fund, Microsoft, and others. The round valued the company at $2.6 billion.
- Mistral AI: Nvidia invested in Mistral for the second time when the French-based large language model developer raised a $640 million Series B at a $6 billion valuation in June.
- Lambda: AI cloud provider Lambda, which provides services for model training, raised a $480 million Series D at a reported $2.5 billion valuation in February. The round was co-led by SGW and Andra Capital Lambda, and joined by Nvidia, ARK Invest, and others. A significant part of Lambda’s business involves renting servers powered by Nvidia’s GPUs.
- Cohere: In June, Nvidia invested in Cohere’s $500 million round, a large language model provider serving enterprises. The chipmaker first backed the Toronto-based startup in 2023.
- Perplexity: Nvidia first invested in Perplexity in November of 2023 and has participated in every subsequent round of the AI search engine startup, including the $500 million round in December, which values the company at $9 billion, according to PitchBook data.
Deals of Over a $100 Million
- Ayar Labs: In December, Nvidia invested in the $155 million round of Ayar Labs, a company developing optical interconnects to improve AI compute and power efficiency. This was the third time Nvidia backed the startup.
- Kore.ai: The startup developing enterprise-focused AI chatbots raised $150 million in December of 2023. In addition to Nvidia, investors participating in the funding included FTV Capital, Vistara Growth, and Sweetwater Private Equity.
- Hippocratic AI: This startup, which is developing large language models for healthcare, announced in January that it raised a $141 million Series B at a valuation of $1.64 billion led by Kleiner Perkins. Nvidia participated in the round, along with returning investors Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and others. The company claims that its AI solutions can handle non-diagnostic patient-facing tasks such as pre-operating procedures, remote patient monitoring, and appointment preparation.
Conclusion
Nvidia has been at the forefront of the AI revolution, and its investments in AI startups have been instrumental in shaping the industry. The company has participated in numerous funding rounds, investing in startups that are developing cutting-edge AI technologies.
FAQs
Q: What is Nvidia’s goal with its corporate investing?
A: Nvidia’s goal is to expand the AI ecosystem by backing startups it considers to be "game changers and market makers."
Q: How much has Nvidia invested in AI startups?
A: According to PitchBook data, Nvidia has participated in 49 funding rounds for AI companies in 2024, a significant increase from the previous year.
Q: Which AI startups has Nvidia invested in?
A: Nvidia has invested in numerous AI startups, including OpenAI, xAI, Inflection, Wayve, and many others.
Q: What is the total value of Nvidia’s investments in AI startups?
A: The total value of Nvidia’s investments in AI startups is not publicly disclosed, but it is likely in the billions of dollars.
